Editor's Note: This post was published in June 2016 and has been updated with new information.
Want to use social media to increase your website traffic, leads and sales?
If that's your goal, it may be time to shift your thinking on how social media can be used in your marketing mix.
At this point, many B2B marketing organizations still think of social media as a tool for building brand awareness. Social media teams often focus on posting content to drive engagement. They set goals … [Read more...]

When was the last time that your Sales VP complained that Marketing isn’t contributing enough high quality leads to the sales pipeline? When was the last time your CEO asked what your marketing team has succeeded in doing this quarter?
Chances are, you get these questions fairly often. At this point, many organizations are starting to judge their marketing department on their ability to contribute to top-line revenue. And a great marketing team is one that’s able to prove their worth. … [Read more...]

As a B2B marketer in a startup, I am always thinking about how our marketing team can get smarter about the way we identify, build and nurture relationships with our potential buyers.
During my workday, I spend a lot of time reading articles, whitepapers and reports to see what insights I can glean that will help me do my job better.
One of the most interesting topics that’s emerging is the concept of “casual learning”.
If you’re not familiar with “casual learning” in the B2B … [Read more...]

Editor's Note: This post was published in 2016 and has been updated to reflect product changes made by Twitter and by Socedo.
Twitter is one of the best social media platforms for B2B marketing. Why? Because it’s open and it’s public (unless you set your profile on private of course). People frequently check in to share professional content, to do research and to engage with companies. Best of all, Twitter is a great place for businesses to find the people who are interested in what they’re … [Read more...]

Rapid changes in technology are amplifying issues for how B2B organizations can manage their revenue funnel. Because marketing and sales organizations often use different tools and track different metrics, key information about the marketing and sales processes are often scattered across many systems.
As a result, many companies are not able to clearly see what’s happening inside their marketing and sales funnels.
But when you listen to the story within your data and pair it with buyer … [Read more...]

In an ideal world, your marketing engine is working so flawlessly that your SDR team is always getting warm leads who are ready for a demo right now. All the SDR team needs to do is get these marketing qualified leads on the phone.
Unfortunately, that's not the case most of the time, for a variety of reasons: your inbound leads are not from good-fit accounts, your scoring methodology is incorrect, your SDR reaches one contact but gets passed off to a different contact at the account, the … [Read more...]

Editor's Note: This is a guest blog post written by Romi Mahajan and Steven Salta
The business world is awash in talks about Customer Experience. Many organizations at this point have created “Customer Experience” or “Customer Success” teams in an attempt to improve their relationship with their customers.
The idea behind this move is basic - happy customers who enjoy smooth and rewarding experiences with an organization remain loyal and may even advocate on behalf of the company. It is … [Read more...]

At this point, nearly 75% of B2B marketing organizations are using a mix of inbound and outbound marketing tactics, according to a study conducted by DiscoverOrg and MarketingProfs.
Outbound marketing tactics are successful for B2B sellers today for a couple of reasons.
First, outbound methods are easy to deploy. As long as a marketing team has access to quality data, it can execute outbound tactics like emails, cold calling and direct mail quickly and generate leads almost immediately. In … [Read more...]

Editor's note: This article was originally published on the Marketo Blog.
At this point, most of us have realized that traditional, or “spray-and-pray” marketing approaches no longer work. We are now living in the Engagement Economy where buyers have more power than brands and expect personalized, relevant interactions at every touchpoint.
As Steve Lucas, Marketo CEO, said, to win in the Engagement Economy, marketers must listen and learn before they engage. Now, savvy marketers are … [Read more...]

Intent Data is starting to become the newest buzzword within the B2B marketing space. If you went to any marketing conference in the past year, you’ve heard everyone ask about B2B intent data. The earliest adopters are already using it in their analytics or to identify their total addressable market. Many of us are still trying to get a handle it.
It’s clear that everybody wants intent data. Marketers get that intent data has practical applications ranging from identifying in-market … [Read more...]